Sunday, December 5, 2010

Movie News Today

Famed vampire writer Anne Rice wants Robert Downey, Jr. to play the lead in a remake of "Interview with the Vampire" and its sequels. In a related story, everyone wants Robert Downey, Jr. to play the lead in every movie ever.

"The Company Man," which had been getting a bit of Oscar buzz, has been bumped to January. Never, ever a good sign.

The makes of the controversial "documentary" "Catfish" will be pulled into court soon over a copyright issue which could determine once and for all whether or not this was a documentary or the retched, awful prank most people believe it to be.

Finally, while I was on my writing vacation (aka selling my life to work), two extremely notable deaths took place:

The New York Times provides us with a obituary for the great Leslie Nielsen who made a huge impact on my life (and many, many others) as Dr. Rumack in "Airplane!" Easily one of the 10 (or 5) funniest movies of all time, it is Nielsen's character that holds the movie together and I will be forever grateful for the many, many laughs I have had and will have from his performance. Hollywood Reporter delivers a similar column about the much less celebrated but no less brilliant Irvin Kershner, director of "The Empire Strikes Back." If you've read just about anything on this site, you have to know what a tremendous "Star Wars" geek I am. Kershner is a HUGE part of the success of that franchise. In fact, without Kershner's work, there is a very good chance that "Star Wars: A New Hope" would go down in history as a singularly spectacular film followed by a cheap sequel or two that never measured up. Instead, "Empire" took the "Star Wars" universe to new heights and allowed it to become the international phenomenon that it has become. I cannot begin to express how much Kershner's work meant to me personally. His influence on Hollywood will be sorely missed.